Foundations of Esotericism

Schmidt Number: S-1133

On-line since: 31st March, 2004

LECTURE XII

Berlin, 7th October 1905

When the physical body is discussed most people have a very unclear,
confused idea of what it actually is. In point of fact what we have
before us is not just the physical body but a combination of the
physical body with higher forces. A piece of rock crystal is also
physical but in its very nature this is something quite different from
the human eye or heart, which are also physical. The eye and heart are
parts of the physical body, but they are intermixed with man's higher
members and through this, something is brought about which is
completely different from other aspects of the physical. In water we
find oxygen and hydrogen but they look quite different from when we
see them separated. Then we are aware of their difference. In water we
have before us a mixture of both. What meets us in the physical body
of man is also a mixture comprised of the physical, etheric and astral
bodies.

The physical human eye is similar to a camera, for, as with the
camera, there appears within it a picture of the surrounding world.
Only when one abstracts from the physical eye everything that is not
to be found in the camera, does one discover what is the specific
nature of the physical eye. So too one must abstract from the entire
physical body everything that is not purely physical: only then does
one have what in occultism is called the physical body. In itself it
can neither live, think nor feel. There then remains a very wisely
ordered, extremely complicated automaton, a purely physical apparatus.
This, alone, was all there was of human existence at the Old Saturn
stage. At that time the eyes were present only as little cameras. What
was produced as [a] picture of the surrounding world came to the
consciousness of a Deva being. In the middle of the Saturn evolution
the so-called Asuras (the Archai) were sufficiently advanced to make
use of the apparatus. At that time they were at the human stage. They
made use of the automata and the pictures they produced. The Asuras
themselves were not within the apparatus but outside and only made use
of the pictures as we make use of photographic apparatus in order to
take pictures of a landscape. Thus the physical body of man was at
that time an architectural structure of a physical apparatus operated
from outside. This is the first stage of human existence.

The second stage of development was the permeation of this physical
apparatus with the etheric body. It then became a living organism.
That also found expression in the configuration of the body. The
automaton was built up out of a fairly firm undifferentiated mass,
similar to what today is a jelly-like substance, like a soft crystal.
(40)
In the second Round of evolution in the Old Sun existence, the
physical automaton was imbued with the etheric body. In this Round the
solar plexus developed. It is so called because still today only
rudiments of the organ are present. It fashions a nervous system into
the physical apparatus. In the case of the plant something similar is
present. That is the second stage.

But these stages are not final; evolution gradually progresses. Even
today the solar plexus is an active agent in certain animals which
have not developed a spinal cord. All invertebrate animals are single
forms from left behind stages of what was laid down earlier. It was
only on the Earth that man cast out from himself the vertebrate
animals. In earlier times his organism was still somewhat similar to
that of the crab at the present day. Man has progressed beyond that
earlier stage whereas the crab has remained stationary. It is an
astonishing fact that the whole inner formation of the crab has a
certain similarity to the human brain. There is actually a similarity
between the internal formation of the crab and the human brain. Like
the human brain the crab too is enclosed in a hard shell. After man
had developed a spine and had metamorphosed the upper vertebrae, he
cast off the hard shell. The crab has not developed further. It has
adapted itself to its environment by means of a hard shell that it had
to have and which serves the same purpose as does the protective
covering of the whole body in man.

The third stage is that in which the whole is transformed by the
astral body working within it. This organic transformation is
connected with the development of the heart and the circulation of the
blood. The heart of the fish has remained stationary at a halfway
stage.
(41)
The development of the heart is proportionate to the
degree in which there is an increase in the inner warmth of the body;
this signifies nothing other than a drawing of the astral into the
body.

The spinal cord with the brain is the organ of the ego. This is
surrounded by the threefold protective sheath of the astral, etheric
and physical bodies. After the organ of the ego (spinal cord and
brain) had been prepared, the ego laid itself in the bed made ready
for it, and spinal cord and brain appear as organs in the service of
the ego.

The four-fold man is put together in this way. It is the Pythagorean
square.

The spinal cord and brain are the organ of the ego.

The warm blood and the heart are the organ of Kama (astral body).

The Solar plexus is the organ of the etheric body.

The actual physical body is the complicated physical apparatus.

Thus has the four-fold being of man been constructed.

In occultism what we have now described is again called a spiral
(Wirbel), something that builds from outside inwards and unites with
what builds up from within. Physical body, etheric and astral bodies
have built up the human being. Then the ego makes itself felt and this
builds from within outwards. These are the four constituents of man.
Here we find in the outer an imprint of the four-fold man. All further
development is of such a nature that the human being, starting from
this point of the ego, consciously experiences what previously he went
through unconsciously.

Today, in order to realise that this is so, one must in the first
place investigate what took place when our ego was being developed. In
order to do this we must, as it were, take up our position under a
certain organ. This is most aptly expressed in the Buddha legend. It
says in the legend that Buddha remained seated under the Bodhi tree
until he attained illumination in order to rise to higher stages, to
Nirvana. For this Buddha had to place himself under the brain, under
the organ of consciousness. That means the paths he had previously
traversed unconsciously he had to traverse again consciously. Under
the large brain there lies, more towards the back of the head, the
small, tree shaped brain (the cerebellum). Under this brain Buddha
placed himself. The cerebellum is the Bodhi tree. This shows how what
is said in such profound legends is actually taken from human
evolution.

Everything that is now known only by means of anatomy was at that time
known in quite another way. The occult investigator made his
researches with the help of the Kundalini light. The pupil was
prepared for this in the following way. He came to a Master. If the
latter found him trustworthy he received as instruction, not actually
a teaching  today it has become different, today man must find
his way by means of intellect and concepts  but the Master spoke
somewhat as follows: Every day for about six weeks you must spend
several hours in meditation and give yourself up to some sentence of
eternal value, completely sinking yourself into it. At present man
cannot do this because life in modern civilisation makes too many
demands on him. At that time the pupil meditated six to ten hours
daily. He cannot do this nowadays without withdrawing from the whole
life around him. At that time however the pupil required hardly any
time for external needs. He found his nourishment in outer nature. He
therefore made use of his time for meditation, perhaps uninterruptedly
for ten hours. By this means he very soon progressed so far that he
brought his body, which at that time was less dense, into such a
condition that the Kundalini light was awakened within him. This is
for the inner being what sunlight is for the outer world. Actually we
do not see external objects, but reflected sunlight. The moment when,
with the help of the Kundalini light, we can illuminate the soul, it
becomes as visible as an object shone upon by the sun. So for the yoga
pupil the whole inner body gradually became illuminated. All ancient
anatomies were seen from within, through inner illumination. Thus the
(Indian) monks, who clothed their experiences in legends, spoke of
what they had perceived through the Kundalini light.

Now we must ask ourselves how the different parts of the human body
are worked upon. In regard to what belongs to the brain and spinal
cord, man first works consciously on the physical plane through the
human ego [Gap in the text ...] He has at present no influence on
anything else. He has for instance no influence on the circulation of
the blood. Such things are developed by degrees. Here other beings
co-operate, Deva beings, so that all creatures having a blood
circulation are dependent on Deva forces for its regulation. The
astral body is permeated and worked upon by different Deva forces. The
lowest work on the astral body. Higher forces work on the etheric body
and still higher Devas on the physical body, the most perfected body
possessed by man. The astral body is strikingly less perfect than the
physical body. The physical heart is indeed very clever; the stupid
one is the astral body, that directs into the heart all kinds of heart
poisons. The most perfect part of man is the physical body, less
perfect is the etheric body and still less perfect is the astral body.
What is only in its beginnings, the baby in man, is the ego
Organisation. This is the four-fold man, which contains the ego as the
temple contains the statue of a god.

The whole development of human culture is nothing other than the
working of the ego into the astral body, the education of the astral
body. Man enters into life filled with desires, impulses and passions.
In so far as he masters these impulses, desires and passions, he is
working his ego into the astral body. When the Sixth Root-race, the
Sixth Epoch, has reached its conclusion, the ego will have completely
worked into the astral body. Until then the astral body will continue
to be dependent on the support of the Deva forces. As long as the ego
has not permeated the entire astral body, so long must the Deva forces
support the work.

The second stage of development, which follows that of the cultural,
is the development of the esoteric pupil. He works the ego into the
etheric body. Through this the Deva forces are gradually released by
the work of his own ego. Then he also gradually begins to see into
himself.

We can now ask: what is the significance of the astral body, for what
purpose does man have an astral body? It is to give him the
possibility, by way of his desires, to do what otherwise he would not
have done, and to betake himself to the physical plane. For before man
can acquire objective knowledge on the physical plane he must direct
to it his wishes and desires. Without these he would have been unable
to develop an objective observation of the world or a sense of duty
and morality. Only after a gradual transformation of his desires can
these be changed into duties and ideals. Man can only pursue this path
by means of the driving, organising power of the astral body.

The etheric body is the bearer of thoughts. What is thought within
man, is etheric outside, just as what is desire within him, is astral
outside. But it is only when pure thinking begins that etheric
substance is radiated into the astral impulses. As long as thinking is
not yet pure thinking we have astral substance surrounding the etheric
form. So thought-forms, as they are called, are made out of a kernel
of etheric substance surrounded by astral substance. Along the paths
of the nerves stream the so-called abstract thoughts, which however
are in reality the most concrete, for they are etheric forces. As soon
as man even begins to think, he is already working the ego into his
etheric body. When a man dies it becomes clear that the physical body
has nothing to do with the ego. Every connection between the physical
body and the ego is broken off after death. Previously this connection
took place indirectly through the other bodies. When these are no
longer there the corpse has no further relation to the ego. Then the
outer Deva forces receive it and it is again absorbed into the
physical environment. The word verwesen (decay) does not mean only a
passing away, but a return to the Wesen (being) out of which the
body came forth. This is what may be said in respect of the physical
body. The Dutch word Lichaam does not mean Leichnam (corpse) but
the physical body which has to be carried about.

The etheric body is to a great extent in a similar situation to the
physical body. It is taken up in the same way by the Devas and then
again dissolved into general circulation. But there remains from the
etheric body what the human being himself has worked into it and this
does not dissolve. It is this which later, at the time of
reincarnation, forms a central point, around which what is to be added
is crystallised. This small part of the etheric body remains present
in the case of everyone. In the same way there remains from the astral
body as much as the human being has worked into it. Only during the
last third of the Sixth Root-Race will the entire astral body be
retained by all people of normal development.

Thus development begins by man's working consciously on his astral
body. The task of the Chela, the occult pupil, consists further in the
transformation of his etheric body. The stage of chelahood is
completed when after death the entire etheric body remains intact. The
sojourn in Devachan is necessary in order to make possible a renewal
of the forces of the etheric body. The small portion of the etheric
body which to begin with man carries into Devachan can grow into the
complete etheric body, because the necessary conditions are created
there.

This makes comprehensible the varying length of the sojourn in
Devachan. When the human being stands at the beginning of his
development and has transformed but very little of his etheric body he
can only remain in Devachan for quite a short time. The part of the
etheric body that is lacking must be replaced for him by the external
Devas. When he develops further he sojourns for a progressively longer
time in Devachan; thus the time that he spends there increases in
proportion to his own development. People, however, who are more
advanced sometimes reincarnate earlier for other reasons, for
instance, because they are needed in the world.

When the Chela dies, the entire etheric body is present. Thus at this
stage the Chela can renounce Devachan because the etheric body has
been completely worked through. Then, after quite a short time,
re-birth takes place. He waits at first in the astral world, as in a
place of transition, until he receives a definite mission from his
Master. Then he can again take possession of his etheric body in order
to reincarnate once more.

Until this stage is reached a duality is necessary for evolution, i.e.
that which man is unable to develop inwardly for himself is built into
him from outside. Help must be brought to him from without. Thus in
Devachan the etheric body is once more made complete by external Deva
powers. The Physical Plane and Devachan are polar opposites. Between
them lies Kamaloka, a place of transition, a transitional stage, an
intermediary condition that causes the human being to be connected
with what he has worked into his astral body. The astral body leads
man on to the Physical Plane, where he directs his attention outwards.
Here desires are cultivated by contact with external things. When a
person dies his craving for outer objects does not immediately cease,
although he no longer has organs bringing him into connection with
them. The desire remains but the organs are lacking. In Kamaloka he
must break himself from this longing for the outer-world. Kamaloka
does not actually belong to normal development; it is only a stage
where habits must be relinquished. It is because man can no longer
satisfy his wishes, because he no longer has organs for the physical
world, that Kamaloka comes about.

When someone commits suicide he has identified his ego with the
physical body. For this reason the longing for the physical body is
all the more intense. It seems to him that he is like a hollow tree,
like someone who has lost his ego. He then has a continual thirst for
himself.

When a man is put to death by violence he is in a similar situation.
In the case of someone who meets a violent death he continues seeking
for his physical body until the time when he would otherwise have
died. This seeking can bring about harmful reactions. In such a case
it can happen that a man who meets his end by violence is filled with
a terrible rage against those who have caused his death. Then in the
murdered man the blow is changed into a counter blow. Thus from the
astral world, the souls of Russians executed for political reasons
fought against their own countrymen on the side of the Japanese. This
happened in the Russo-Japanese war; it is however not a general rule.